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bananas

(27,509 posts)
Wed Apr 24, 2013, 04:26 AM Apr 2013

China may have provided nuclear weapons design to Pakistan: Declassified CIA document

Source: Press Trust of India

China might have provided its close ally Pakistan a fairly comprehensive package of proven nuclear weapons design in late 1970s and the CIA knew about it, according to a recently declassified document.

"The CIA had evidence suggesting close Pakistan-China nuclear cooperation, to the point of facilitating a nuclear weapons capability, although the intelligence community saw this as possibly a special case based on an alliance that had existed since 1963," according to recently declassified CIA data, obtained by the National Security Archive (NSA) under the Freedom of Information Act.

According to the document, this allegation has come up before, for example in a state department document and in major news stories but this is the first time the CIA has released some of its own information.

"The estimate highlights some of the main developments, including 'verbal consent (in 1974) to help Pakistan develop a nuclear blast capability', 'hedged and conditional commitment' in 1976 to provide nuclear weapons technology, and unspecified excised information that raised the possibility that China has provided a fairly comprehensive package of proven nuclear weapon design information," it said.

<snip>

Read more: http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/world/pakistan/China-may-have-provided-nuclear-weapons-design-to-Pakistan-Declassified-CIA-document/articleshow/19707790.cms

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China may have provided nuclear weapons design to Pakistan: Declassified CIA document (Original Post) bananas Apr 2013 OP
Somehow the Right Wing will blame Carter. Spitfire of ATJ Apr 2013 #1
The Carter Admin. started in Jan. '77 - this was part of Bush, Sr.'s CIA deal w/Saudis (Safari Club) leveymg Apr 2013 #5
The Bush Crime Family was busy under Ford.... Spitfire of ATJ Apr 2013 #6
That was Bush-Cheney-Rumsfeld Administration I. leveymg Apr 2013 #14
With nuclear proliferation a policy priority for the Jimmy Carter administration... bananas Apr 2013 #2
I'm Not Familar With Zeenews DallasNE Apr 2013 #9
I think you're misreading that. bananas Apr 2013 #13
Awkward Wording DallasNE Apr 2013 #15
Yesterday Russia. kitt6 Apr 2013 #3
Wouldn't it be fair, John2 Apr 2013 #4
The Enemy Of My Enemy Is My Friend DallasNE Apr 2013 #7
India's fault. They belligerently aligned with the Soviet Union. closeupready Apr 2013 #8
What does "may have" mean? El Progreso Apr 2013 #10
I Think Your Statement is Correct. Yes, It Also Means "May Not Have." dballance Apr 2013 #12
Not surprising really Marrah_G Apr 2013 #11
 

Spitfire of ATJ

(32,723 posts)
6. The Bush Crime Family was busy under Ford....
Wed Apr 24, 2013, 12:20 PM
Apr 2013

He spent his presidency touring America's golf courses.

At the time, I thought he would go down in history for the word, "Fore!"

leveymg

(36,418 posts)
14. That was Bush-Cheney-Rumsfeld Administration I.
Wed Apr 24, 2013, 05:49 PM
Apr 2013

The five extra innings that followed were just decline into madness. And that says a lot considering what happened under Nixon.

bananas

(27,509 posts)
2. With nuclear proliferation a policy priority for the Jimmy Carter administration...
Wed Apr 24, 2013, 04:35 AM
Apr 2013
http://zeenews.india.com/news/south-asia/china-provided-nuclear-weapons-designs-to-pakistan_844306.html

China provided nuclear weapons designs to Pakistan?
Last Updated: Wednesday, April 24, 2013, 09:27

<snip>

Significant portions of the document covering technology sharing are excised, but more may be learned if additional details are released under appeal, the NSA added.

With nuclear proliferation a policy priority for the Jimmy Carter administration, and Pakistan already a special concern, the possibility that China and Pakistan were sharing nuclear weapons-related information began worrying US government officials, NSA said.

However, the CIA had no hard evidence--and the soft evidence that concerned them is massively excised in the December 1979 report just as Beijing and Washington were normalising relations-so the "precise nature and extent of this cooperation is uncertain," the NSA said.

"These concerns did not go away during the Reagan administration. While nuclear proliferation was not a top priority, the administration was apprehensive about the implications of the spread of nuclear capabilities and that China may have been aiding and abetting some potential proliferators by selling non-safeguarded nuclear materials," NSA said.


(Note: NSA refers to the National Security Archive, not the National Security Agency).

DallasNE

(7,392 posts)
9. I'm Not Familar With Zeenews
Wed Apr 24, 2013, 02:53 PM
Apr 2013

So I'm not sure what to make of this since it seems so out of step that Carter was attempting nuclear proliferation. Do you have another source making this same point because this really isn't passing the smell test.

bananas

(27,509 posts)
13. I think you're misreading that.
Wed Apr 24, 2013, 05:25 PM
Apr 2013

It doesn't say that Carter was attempting proliferation, it says the opposite.

Those paragraphs seem to be taken directly from the National Security Archives page on this: http://www.gwu.edu/~nsarchiv/nukevault/ebb423/

DallasNE

(7,392 posts)
15. Awkward Wording
Wed Apr 24, 2013, 07:20 PM
Apr 2013

It is only after reading on that you get the sense that they were talking about a non-proliferation policy in the face of proliferation in Pakistan.

 

John2

(2,730 posts)
4. Wouldn't it be fair,
Wed Apr 24, 2013, 05:51 AM
Apr 2013

if you tell us who the U.S. provided this technology to, since we are the first country to have this technology? The second country was Russia, then followed by China,the United Kingdom and France. India also received the technology along with South Africa and Israel. Countries were getting these weapons because they feared without them, their adversaries would have a military advantage. The U.S. could not stop India from testing nuclear weapons and India openly defied International Law. North Korea is not the first. Israel want even allow the International community to inspect their nuclear facilities. The U.S. has also shared or placed nuclear weapons in other countries such as Germany or Canada since they are Allies. When it comes to any debate about nuclear weapons, no country can claim the moral high ground. They all are trying to gain an advantage over the battle field. Nuclear weapons has changed conventional war fare and only one country has ever used them. Nuclear warfare threatens the existence of man kind period. Ronald Reagan was an idiot for even suggesting winning a nuclear conflict. There is no tested evidence, a missile shield can stop a nuclear attack. These are only theories. And if anyone knows about science, theories are not scientific facts or proven evidence.

DallasNE

(7,392 posts)
7. The Enemy Of My Enemy Is My Friend
Wed Apr 24, 2013, 02:35 PM
Apr 2013

China had a fallout with the Soviet Union and India was an ally of the Soviet Union. That would naturally drive the US and China in the same direction in the India-Pakistan dispute. This is also about the same time as Nixon's trip to China and the start of the thaw between the two countries. The problem is that somebody needed to slow walk some of the below the radar changes that were taking place and question who's interest was really being served by these decisions. While the odds are high that Pakistan would have gotten the bomb there was certainly no need to fast track those efforts because they have more and better weapons than they otherwise would have today.

 

closeupready

(29,503 posts)
8. India's fault. They belligerently aligned with the Soviet Union.
Wed Apr 24, 2013, 02:45 PM
Apr 2013

Picked fights with both Pakistan and China. Have committed untold human rights abuses in Kashmir. Meddled in Sri Lanka.

Not exactly the type of neighbor you want to be powerless against, more like a bully.

 

dballance

(5,756 posts)
12. I Think Your Statement is Correct. Yes, It Also Means "May Not Have."
Wed Apr 24, 2013, 03:34 PM
Apr 2013

Just another one of the weaselly-worded sentences that is worded to try to say someone is guilty without really saying. It also gives the person/organization making the statement the weasel room later, if proven wrong, to say they never said xyz was guilty of causing abc.

Marrah_G

(28,581 posts)
11. Not surprising really
Wed Apr 24, 2013, 03:18 PM
Apr 2013

We help our allies with tech, why would China be any different.

I believe there is some tension between China and India and India and Pakistan hate each other.

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